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BMW M5 breaks two drifting world records

By Chris Thompson, 11 Jan 2018News

Eight hours and 374.2km of sliding resulted in two records broken by Bavarian four-door

With a slightly modified 2018 BMW F90 M5 and a 2017 F10 M5, BMW has claimed two world records for drifting.

The first is the record for longest vehicle drift in 8 hours, which covered 374.2km of sliding on a wet circular track at the BMW Performance Centre in South Carolina.

The second M5 allowed BMW to also claim another record for the longest twin vehicle water-assisted drift, which consisted of both vehicles drifting side-by-side for 79.3 kilometres.

The F10 M5 also provided another purpose, however, as it was the refuelling car for the main drift car.

The main car was modified by Detroit Speed to carry an extra fuel tank, with a fuel input fitted to the outside of the rear window.

The second car would then drift close enough for someone to lean across and connect a fuel hose, allowing the main M5 to drift uninterrupted for the full eight hours.

BMW Performance Centre driving instructor and driver of the main drift car Johan Schwartz says finding out his previous had been beaten is what led him to take on the new attempt.

“When I saw that my old record got beaten that was cool. I thought it was excellent because that just gave me another opportunity to go out and do it again.”

It also meant he had an excuse to spend eight hours (and plenty more in practice) drifting a new F90 BMW M5.

Possibly having slightly less fun than Schwartz was Matt Butts of Detroit Speed, the man tasked with hanging out the rear passenger window of the F10 M5 driven by Performance Centre chief driving instructor Matt Mullins.

Butts’ job was to refuel Schwartz’s M5, which he successfully did a total of five times.

“Although we practised the refuelling several times before the Guinness World Records title attempt, there was very little margin for error,” said Butts.

“We’re very excited to have played a part in Johan and BMW recapturing this record.”